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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Haha, Yeah, I'm all into anything that gives me more milk. Just anything!!!

This time around I changed my red date tea formula. After reading on the internet about galactagogues, I got to know a common Chinese herb is one of it. It's astragalus root , 黃耆 or 北耆. My mom will sometimes put this into her soups. And then I went searching for 发奶茶 (lactating tea), and got to know another herb that is used, which is Rice Paper Pith, 通草. It is commonly found in herbal teas that promote urination like "Hui Sap Sui 去湿水".

When I went to the Chinese herbal shop to buy my bulk of herbs, the herbalist asked me why am I buying so much rice paper pith.

He said, "What do you want to 通(toong, meaning unclog) ??

Well, they have never encountered anyone buying 150gm of it. It sounds little, right? But it's so light weight that 150gm is one big plastic bag of it. Almost like the size of a basketball.

I told him, "I want to make 发奶茶 (lactating tea)."

Then to my surprise, the male herbalist said slumberly, "Oh, you want to unclog your breasts!" (Oh, Lei yiu toong nin, in Cantonese).

His female workers' eyes went big (while sheepishly giggling) and so did mine. I never expect him to use such a word. I almost wanted to burst into laughter. There was no sexual tones there, but the words he used was totally unexpected, to be do direct. Much to the surprise of all the women there. He just went on with his work while his workers packed my bulk of herbs. I went back to the car like Santa with his bag. That much of stuff for 1 month's red date tea.

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lovely notes:

As I read on this "......male herbalist said slumberly, "Oh, you want to unclog your breasts!" (Oh, Lei yiu toong nin, in Cantonese)", I was too grinning cheekily to myself!!!Just want to say, good for you and good for the baby to have breastmilk. Have a wonderful time with your baby. What is your baby boy's name now?

next time when and if i have another baby, i'll know where to find for ways to get more milk. i was so low on supply; fenugreek oso cannot help. papaya soup also cannot help.i only had red dates drink but did not drink plenty of it.congrats on the little bundle of joy! He is now the little King with princesses to help around!!!take care.-ona-

only red dates...simple. i can't cook and don't know all these stuff. MIL does most of it...very lucky to have her. your roasted chicken looks super yummy too. so plenty different menu for your confinement lah. mine was just drunken chicken soup. papaya soup was with fish, very fishy but just drank it coz want to be a cow, unfortunately did not become a cow. i'll remember you for the next confinement, if any:)

i choked out at what the chinese man said....goodness...! I would have laughed right after i think, it was crude, and a lil embarassing but still rather funny :) u've got a marvellous idea here...i'm thinkin of having another baby just so i can have another confinemt to put all this to practise!! Thanks for bloggin...really :)dayze

luyi,It is drank in place of plain water throughout the confinement. Although you can still drink plain water (that is if your mother or MIL or confinement lady approves of plain water)You can prepack the herbs, but I taught my CL to use the digital scale and follow the measurements properly.If possible, drink ASAP after delivery, because Chinese believe this is warming.

Hi Wendy, I saw your blog while looking for red dates recipe and found this. I'm gg to deliver soon, so this recipe is really useful for me since I hope I can fully bf my girl. But I hv 1 Q. U mentioned 4L of water and boiled for 2 hrs. Did you boil this in a pot over the gas or slow cooker?? Thanks!

I just went back to work not long ago and I realise that my supply has dropped so was wondering if I can still drink it to boost my supply and if it's ok to boil it with only red dates, longan, wolfberries & 通草? Or do I need 北耆 for better effects?

Oh, I pump 3 times a day when I'm working, and will latch my bb when I'm at hm. Okie, will include 北耆 in the red date tea. Thanks thanks. Hopefully it'll work for me. I've tried fenugreek, sacred tea but no effect on me. Only smell like fenugreek :P

Hi, I would like to prepare this tea for my coming confinement next month. Can I know if I can throw all the ingredients into a large slow cooker instead? And how long do I brew it for if I use this appliance and what setting (low/high) should I set?

If I use the gas stove, with 4L of water and slow simmer for 2hours, what L will be left for drinking?

Hi, I tried weighing out some ingredients that I already have in my fridge (cos when I give birth and CF lady hasnt come, I need my husband to boil the soup instead), I notice amount of dried longans, black dates and wolfberries in your recipe is quite small. Is it meant to be like this? My previous CF lady puts a lot of dried longans the previous time and I followed her. Of course the lesser ingredients needed to make this tea yummy, the better. :)

savvy mummy,*1. High settings on slow cooker, 3 hours.*2. I never measure my amount after boiling, but it's enough to last me throughout the day, sometimes up until midnight, and that is the CL bringing me a cup every now and then.U'll be using slow simmer, not a rolling boil, so evaporation rate won't be that high, except absorption by the herbs.*3.If the herbs are of a good quality grade, the tea will be sweet enough. I'm using grade 1 wolfberries, grade 3 dangshen. There is no exact formula for this, everybody will do it differently.*4. My CL when she first worked with me, she left the dates whole, the tea was tasteless,all the flavour and nutrients are still inside! I told her to remove the pits, this way the flesh is exposed and the tea is very sweet. *5. Pit the dates yourself/herself, don't buy those already pitted. If you want to leave the stones in, the tea will be a lot heatier (chou). If you prefer it this way, smash the dates with a pestle or sides of cleaver to release flavour.

I used your red dates tea recipe, and I could express much more compared with my first birth. My CL was surprise why I added the rice paper pith. And was asking where I got the recipe. When I told her from your blog, she was like, "what? Trustable?". After a few days, seeing my BM improve and more, she slowly, believe.

D,The herbs here does not work like ginseng or dang gui, of which are very potent and can cause bleeding. These 2 herbs have to be abstained until the 12th day.The herbs in this drink are mild herbs.For me, personal view.. can be taken even if have C-sec.

Thanks to your sharing. My family asking me how I know this !! :) I had purchase the amount which can be used up for my whole confinement. As I want to prepare it in advance, can I just measure everything & pack each of them together as total in 30 packs ? This can be consume immediately after delivery , right ?

Jenny,Some of them taste smoky, and I don't like it too. Not all do, get a good one, go to a shop that sells those that doesn't smell smoky.The dates are for nutrients mostly, omitting some should be ok, I'm not a herbalist, so I'm just guessing.The rice paper pith and astragalus are for increasing milk purposes.

hi wendy, would like to know all these ingredients can purchased at any sensei shop right? and the black dates is it similar with the dates we normally consume during fasting month? would like to try this recipe.

hi wendy.. 1st and foremost.. love ur blog... great info..very detailed and seriously helpful.. 2ndly.. i know it's been a while, but can u recall how much roughly is the price for the ingredients u used? thank u in advance.

Rann,In our hot tropical weather, I just left it on the counter top and had it at room temperature. It can last you the whole day long. But you can have it warm if you like, or get a thermal pot and keep the tea in it. As you wish.

Siti di alam fantasi, We boil this once a day, and drink it throughout the day, in place of plain water. The recipe is for one day's amount. If you can drink more , then add more water. Anyway, it's not a fixed recipe, different people will have different measurements, and older folks will just campak and masak.For post partum, we usually drink this for a month, but you can extend it if you like. But if you start to feel headache or heaty, then stop it. This is considered a 'warm' drink.